Many types of portable dictating machines are now in commercial use. Many people use such machines for the taking of notes, dictating letters, leaving messages, recording random thoughts on various subjects, reporting service or sales contracts, etc., at locations away from an office or central station.
Many such machines use standard size cassettes with a resulting recorder small enough to slip into a large pocket or briefcase. Other recording machines use the so-called microcassettes which will fit into much smaller pockets. There has recently been announced a commercial recorder of wrist watch size utilizing a RAM (random access memory).
All current recorders known to me suffer from a common disadvantage in that the information recorded plays back in the same sequence in which it is recorded. There may be several notes or messages regarding one subject, but spaced over an extended period on a cassette, for example. In order to place the information in proper sequence it is necessary to transcribe the entire cassette, and then to assemble or segregate the transcribed information relative to various subjects. The information then must be re-typed with regard to the various subjects. This is inefficient and time consuming. In a telephone answering system, messages from various callers must be heard in sequence.